I was hoping to post this yesterday night.. we all know why we were so busy.. glued to the TV and twitter.. 4 more years! 4 more years! Thank you to everyone who voted 🙂

Another Diwali Post, a savory one. These crackers are crunchy, delicious, baked and glutenfree. The usual Namak paare (salty crackers) are made with whole wheat flour or a combination of wheat flour and semolina. They are thick wheat crackers spiced with Carom seeds-Ajwain and black pepper. They are deep fried and served along with the sweets to guests who come visit during the festival. The festival has a couple of celebrations spread over some days. Many days for visiting friends and family and days to eat and eat. It starts off with Dussehra(harvest festival and victory day celebration) then Hoi Ashthmi (Celebrating Children- the kids always get to eat Black Chana masala, plain nut free Sooji/Semolina halwa and Deep fried Puri flat bread) and Diwali over 2 days and more after that too.

These crackers are based on Potato Murukku,which is thick noodle type snack. This same soft dough is pushed through a noodle/cookie press type thing, directly into the heated oil and fried till crisp.I used the dough and made these crisp baked crackers instead. They taste like Murukku/Murukulu, look like Paare, look all pretty with the turmeric hue, and make for fun munchables.

These can be easily used as regular crackers with soups, dips, hummus and such. Use cumin seeds or dried herbs instead of carom seeds for variations. Some of these Diwali festival recipes can be added to the Thanksgiving menu too:). The Semolina crumble with cranberries from yesterday, on top of a bread pudding. yumm.

I make small quantities of things to post, so I can make other variations and keep posting:) else we end up with containers full of things to finish:)From the archives, GF Chickpea Mathri crackers here.

Step Pictures:

Mash the potato. Add oil if using and mix it in.Mix brown rice flour, salt, spices, baking powder and add to the potato and mix it into a crumbly mixture.Add a teaspoon of water at a time to make a soft dough. I needed only 2 teaspoons. Water needed will depend on the moisture content of the potato and flour used.Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.Place the dough on parchment and press a bit with your hand.Dust some brown rice flour on top and roll it out with light pressure into as thin as possible. Cut the rolled out dough using pizza cutter into squares or diamonds. Use a fork to prick a few holes in the crackers.Bake in preheated 370 degrees F for 15 minutes.Take the crackers out, break them apart and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Crrrunnchh

Baked Namak Paare- Savory Potato Rice CrackersAllergy Information: Gluten, Dairy, egg, soy, corn, nut, yeast freeMakes a 4 inch bowl full. Easily doubled, multipled.Ingredients:1 small potato – boiled, peeled and mashed. About 1/4 cup1/4 cup Brown Rice flour1/4 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon Coarsely ground Black pepper1/2 teaspoon Carom seeds(ajwain) or cumin seedsa generous pinch of turmeric powdera generous pinch of baking powder1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (Optional)2-3 teaspoons waterMethod:Mash the potato. Add oil if using and mix it in.Mix rice flour, salt, spices, baking powder and add to the potato and mix it into a crumbly mixture.Add a teaspoon of water at a time to make a soft dough. I needed only 2 teaspoons. Water needed will depend on the moisture content of the potato and flour used.Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.Place the dough on parchment and press a bit with your hand.Dust brown rice flour on top and roll it out with “light” pressure into as thin as possible. (Keep dusting more flour to avoid dough sticking to the rolling pin and breaking apart).Cut the rolled out dough using pizza cutter into squares or diamonds.Use a fork to prick a few holes in the dough.Place parchment on baking sheet and Bake in preheated 370 degrees F for 15 minutes.Take the crackers out, break them apart and bake for another 8-10 minutes until crisp to touch.Cool and store in airtight container.These crackers are being shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Ricki’s Wellness Weekend, Healthy Vegan Fridays

These look fantastic and easy…thus making this recipe a must bake in the near future. As we ramp up into spring and are getting closer and closer to our Australian summer we are choosing to eat lighter meals and learning to make my own crackers is a great skill that will help towards making summer meals more interesting 🙂 Thank you for your amazingly inventive vegan recipes. Who says that we are missing out?!

i dont know why people say that.. coz i am eating so much more fun stuff since the diet change:) i think you can add these small crackers to a a salad too. like a crackery version of a tortilla strip salad:)

Somer, you need to try this recipe: http://chefchloe.com/on-the-side/vegan-goldfish-crackers.html (Sorry Richa, for posting someone else’s recipe on your cracker post!). The twins were very distraught over not having goldfish crackers anymore, so Sophia and I made these. They were delicious and they were gone in about 36 hours. They’re time consuming, but your daughter would have a blast helping you. 🙂

Wow…I totally agree, these crunchy crackers would be divine with hummus (oh hummus, how I love thee?) I’m thrilled they are homemade and GF…making these asap 🙂 For a cheesy rendition, I wonder…can nutritional yeast take a role in the cast of ingredients?

yes, i just moved the parchment onto a sheet and baked them. After 15 minutes, they easily came off the parchment to break up. the dough is too soft and crumbly to be able to remove from the sheet once rolled.

Maybe there was some extra moisture and it needed to be baked slightly longer? I havent tried white rice flour. there are several varieties of white rice too, so it really depends. these crackers stay crispy. the last batch i made lasted about 3 days. in one batch a few were just a teeny bit soft and probably chewy later because they were the center crackers which dint bake enough.

Love this recipe.Today I tried squishing the dough into muffin tin compartments (instead of rolling the dough out and cutting). They turned out great and baked evenly because in just had a small amount of dough in each compartment. Thanks, Richa.Diane in Bloomington, In.

I tried these with nutritional yeast, black pepper, cummin and paprika. They were absolutely delicious. So much tastier than store bought biscuits. Highly recommend. Easy to make and versatile. Thanks so much for posting the recipe and for easy to follow instructions. 10/10!

These are delicious. Thanks for the great recipe. I had to bake them about 8 minutes longer than directed to get them crispy. Are you supposed to bake them on a cookie sheet or place the parchment paper directly in the oven?

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